Fluid-actuated tool



. V 1,643,560- Sept' 1927 A. H. KATTERJOHN FLUID ACTUATED TOOL FiledJune 6, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet i Patented Sept. 27, 1927.

'usirsn' STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AUGUST H. "KATTERJOHN, OIE DENVER, CGLORADO, ASSIGNOR T0 TI-IE DENVERROCK DRILL MFG. 00., GE DENVER, COLORAIDG, A COEPOBATION OF DELAWARE.

FLUID-ACTUA'I'ED 'TOOL.

Application filed June 6,

igure is a viewsimila-r to Figure 1, showing the piston at the.extremityot 1 stroke and the parts in a position to deliver live fluidagainst. one end of the piston,

igure 3 is also a longitudinal sectional view but showing the piston atthe. opposite end of its stroke,

Figure is a longitudinal sectional view through a slightly modified formof construction.

Referring first to the embodiment illustrator in Figures 1, 2 and 3, acylinder mem ber is disclosed having a piston chamber 6 therein. in saidpiston chamber is a re ciprocatory piston comprising spaced heads 7 and8 connected by a reduced portion 9 forming an annular channel 10. In oneside of the cylinder member is an exhaust-permitting means comprising acentral port 11 and other ports 12 onopposite sides of the same, theports 12 being respectively overrun by the piston heads 7 and 8, as willbe clear by reference to Figures 2 and 3.

one side of the cylinder member is a valve chest 13 containing alongitudinally disposed bore 1 forming a valve chamber. The ends o'tthis chamber are closed by plugs which in the present embodiment arethreaded into the ends of the chest 13. The valve chest terminates in anipple 16, to which may be suitably coupled a conduit leading fromsource 0t expansible fluid under pressure, preferably air, and the bore17 of this nipple has communication with ti central portion} of thevalve chamber by a port 18. On opposite sides of said port 18 areannular grooves19 with which communicate passageways indicated at 20,which passageways lead to ports 21 that open into the opposite ends ofthe piston 1922. Serial an. 565,301.

The valve however, may assume opposite extreme positions, as shown inFigures 2 and 3, in which case the grooves 19 are alternately uncovered,thus permitting the sijipply of motive fluid entering the intake 18 topass alternately to opposite ends of the piston chamber and initiate theopposite movements ot the pistons, as hereinafter described. ln additionthere is preferably emoloyed a rick-off port 2 1 that opens directlyfrom the bore 17 of the nipple 16 into one of the grooves 19. V 7 Meansare provided for constantly admitting the motive fluid to the oppositefaces of the valve heads 23, and this may be conveniently accomplishedby ports 25 in said heads. Leading from the ends of the valve chamberand on the outer sides of the valve beans 43 are exhaust passageways 26that converge and open into the central portion the piston chamber 6 atspaced points ant at a distance apart less than the distance between thepi ton heads 7 and 8. Slidably mounted in' the plugs 15 are nlungers 27,the inner ends of which enter the ends of the valve chamber 1 1 and areadapted to abut against the valve heads 23, as shown in Figure 1. Theseplungers have outer heads 28 operating in pressure chambers 29, andmotive fluid is supplied from the bore 17 to said chambers and againstthe outer ends of the heads 28 by suitable passageways 30. Relief ports31 are preferably provided from the chambers 29 on the inner sides ofthe heads 28, so as to insure inward pressure at all times upon theplungers 27.

Assummg the parts as illustrated in Figure 1, if air or other expansivemotive fluid is introduced through the bore 17 of the nipple 16, all theparts of the valve and the plungers have equal pressure against theirouter sides, and said valve will remain in the central positionillustrated. Air, however, will pass through the kick-01f port 2 1 andthence through the groove 19, the passageway 20 and port 21 into one endof the piston chamber, thus building up suflicient pressure to move thepiston 78 to the left. As soon as the head 7 of the piston covers theexhaust passageway 26, the air that has been finding its way through theports of the. right hand valve head 23 will be stopped and pressure willbuild up in the right hand end of the valve chamber, thereby moving thevalve to the left or to theposition illustrated in Figure 2. When thisoccurs the left hand groove 19 is in communication with the intake 18and live will flow through the left hand passageway 20 and left handport 21 into the left hand end of the piston chamber, thereby operatingagainst the head 8 to drive the piston to the right. During thismovement the right hand exhaust'port 12 of the cylinder member isuncovered to permit the exhaust from the right hand end of the pistonchamber. As the piston moves to the right it will again reach theposition illustrated in Figure 1, uncovering both the exhaust ports 26and relieving the pressure at the right hand end of the valve 22. Theleft hand plunger 27, which has been forced rearwardly, as shown inFigure 2, will now react and move the valve to the central position, oruntil it is stopped by striking the right hand plunger 27. The valvewill now be held in its central position with live air out off from bothends of the piston chamber, and consequently the piston will I continuethe intermediate or final movement to the right, due to the expansion ofthe motive fluid held in the left hand end of the piston chamber 6. Asthe piston approaches the right hand limit of its stroke, the left handexhaust port 12 will be uncovered and the left hand exhaust passageway26 from the valve chamber will be covered by the head 8. The valve willtherefore reverse its action or move to the position shown in Fig ure 3,whereupon live air will be initially admitted to the right hand end ofthe piston chamber 6 and the piston will now be driven to the left underlive air until. both exhaust passageways 26 are again uncovered,whereupon the valve will be automatically centered and held, until thecycle of operations above set forth again begins.

A slightly modified form of construction is illustrated in Figure l Thecylinder member is designated 5 and the piston cha1nber 6 thereincontains a reciprocatory piston composed of spaced heads 7 and 8 with areduced portion 9 between them. The ports 11 and 12 are the same asthose described.

The valve chest is designated 13 and is provided with a valve chamber 14in which operates a valve 22 having all the features of the firstdescribed valve. In this structure the plugs 15 instead of beingthreaded into the ends of the bore forming the valve chamber, areslida-bly fitted therein and are held by a tie bolt 16 that passesthrough the valve 22 and has upon it tubular plungers 27 Aside from thismodification the structure is the same and its operatlon corresponds inall respects to that of the device above described. That is to say, acentral intake 18 is employed with the spaced grooves 19 communicatingwith the opposite ends of the piston chamber 6 through passageways 2Oand ports 21. The plungers 27 are moved inwardly by motive fluidsupplied to their outer ends through passageways 30 and the heads of thevalve 22 are provided with supply ports 25 Exhaust passageways 26 leadfrom the ends of the valve chamber 1% to the central portion of thepiston chamber 6 and are controlled by the piston heads 78.

From the foregoing itis thought that the construction, operation andmany advantages of the herein described invention will be apparent tothose skilled in the art without further description, and it will beunderstood that various changes in the size, shape, proportion and minordetails of con-. struction may be resorted to without departing from thespirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

Having thus fully described my invention, what- I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with a cylinder member having a piston chamber and apiston operating in the piston chamber, of means for supplying actuatingfluid to the piston chamber on opposite sides of the piston, adistributing valve controlling said supply and movable between oppositeextreme positions and an intermediate position in which latter positionit cuts off fluid simultaneously to both sides of the piston, and meansfor automatically shifting the valve between and temporarily holding itin its extreme positions and in said intermediate position.

2. The combination with a cylinder mei'n ber and a piston movabletherein, of means for supplying actuating fluid to the cylinder memberon opposite sides of the piston, a distributing valve, means forautomatically operating the valve to permit the passage of actuatingfluid alternately to opposite sides of the piston as the same reachesthe limits of its respective strokes, and means controlled by the pistonto automatically move the valve to and temporarily hold it in a positionto cut off the actuating fluid from both sides of the piston during themovement of the latter through the intermediate portions of its strokes.

3. The combination with a cylinder member and a piston alternatelyoperating in opposite directions therein, of means for supplying motivefluid to the cylinder member on opposite ends of the piston, anautomatic distributing valve movable in opposite lln direct-ions andallowing motive fluid to pass alternately to the ends ofthe piston andcorrespondingly and simultaneously cutting off the motive fluid totheopposite ends, and means for automatically moving the valve to andtemporarily holding it in a position to cut off motive fluid from bothends of the piston during the strokes of said piston.

4. The combination with a cylinder mem her and a piston alternatelyoperating in opposite directions therein, of means for supplying motivefluid to the cylinder memher on one end of the piston' .to effect itsworking stroke, an automatic distributing valve controlling said motivefluid supply, means for automatically shifting the valve to delivermotive fluid to the piston and to initiate its working stroke, and meansfor automatically moving the valve to and temporarily holding it ina-position to cut off the motive fluid from the piston during theintermediate portion of the working stroke and maintain the workingstroke under expansion of the motive fluid.

5. The combination with a cylinder member and a piston alternatelymoving in opposite directions therein, of means includ ing twopassageways leading to the cylinder on opposite ends of the piston fordelivering motive fluid thereto,- an automatic distributing valvemovable to alternate'positions to open the passageways alternately andto a third posit-ion to close both passageways, and means forautomatically moving the valve to said alternate positions and to: saidthird position between-the alternate positions and for temporarilyholding it in said third position during a material portion 01"? thestroke of the piston. p

6. The combination with a cylinder memher and a piston alternatelymoving in opposite directions therein, of means including twopassageways leading to the cylinder member on opposite ends of thepiston for delivering motive fluid thereto, an automatic distributingvalve movable to alternate posiher and a piston alternately moving inopposite directions therein, of means including two passageways leadingto the cylinder member on opposite ends of the piston for deliveringmotive fluid thereto, an automatic distributing valve movable toalternate positions to open the passageways alternately and to a thirdposition to close both passage- 7. The combination with a cylinder mom--ways,fluid actuated means controlled by the piston'for delivering motivefluid to and exhausting it from the valve to shift the valve to saidalternate positions, and fluid actuated means controlled by the pistonto shift the valve to and temporarily hold it in. said third positionduring a material portion of the stroke of the piston.

8. The combination with a cylinder memher: and a pistontherein, of avalve chamber the valve in a position over' both outlets 1 during theintermediate portion of the pistons: stroke.

9. The combination with a cylinder mem her and a piston therein, of avalve chamber having an intermediate intake and outlets on oppositesides of the intake leading to the cylinder member on opposite ends ofthe piston, a distributing valve in the valve chamber movabletoalternate positions to alternately open said outlets to the intake,exhaust passageways from the ends of the valve chamber controlled by thepiston, plungers operating against opposite ends of the. valves, andmotive fluid operating on the plungers to move and temporarily hold thevalve in a posit-ion over both outlets during the intermediate portionof the pistons stroke. I

10. The combination with a cylinder member and a piston therein, ofavalve chamber having an intermediate intake and outlets on oppositesides of the intake leading tothe cylinder member on opposite ends ofthe piston, a distributing valve in the valve cham ber movable toalternate positions to alternately open said outlets to the intake,exhaust passageways from the ends of the valve chamber alternatelycovered and uncovered by the piston and simultaneously uncoveredthereby,and means for moving and temp orarilyholding the valve in a positionover both outlets during'the intermedi ate portion of the pistonsstroke.

11; The combination with a cylinder memher and a piston therein, of avalve chamber having an intermediate intake and outlets on oppositesides of the intake leading to the cylinder member on opposite ends ofthe piston, a. distributing valve in the valve chamber movable toalternate positions to alternately open said outlets to the intake,means for supplying motive fluid to the ends of the valve chamber,exhaust passageways from the ends of the valve chamber,

alternately covered and uncovered by the piston and simultaneouslyuncovered thereby, plungers that operate against the ends of the valves,and means for supplying motive fluid against said plungerssimultaneously to cause them to hold the valve temporarily over bothoutlets during an intermediate portion of the pistons stroke.

12. The combination with a cylinder memher and a reciprocatory pistontherein, of a valve chamber having an intermediate motive fluid intakeand opposite outlets leading to the ends of the cylinder member, areciprocatory valve in the valve chamber, means for permitting thepresence of motive fluid in the ends of the valve chambersimultaneously, exhaust passageways leading from the ends of the valvechamber to the cylinder member, oppositely disposed plungers operatingin the valve, and means for supplying motive fluid to the plungers, saidcylinder member having an exhaust port between its ends, and said pistonhaving an intermediate reduced portion that affords communicationbetween the exhaust passageways of the valve chamber and the exhaustports and forming spaced heads that control said passageways and port,and serving to move the valve between its end positions in the valvechamber, and an intermediate position wherein it cuts ofl motive fluidthrough both outlets and temporarily holding it in said intermediateposition.

18. The combination with a cylinder member having a piston chamber and apiston operating in the piston chamber, of means for supplying actuatingfluid to the piston chamber on opposite sides of the piston, a distributing valve controlling said supply and movable between opposite extremepositions and an intermediate position in which latter position it cutsoff fluid simultaneously to both sides of the piston, oppositereciprocatory plungers mounted independently of the valve and bearingagainst the opposite ends thereof, means for constantly and yieldinglyurging the plungers inwardly and causing both to bear against the valvewhen it-is in its intermediate position, and means for limiting theinward movements of said plungers to cause each to be alternatelyseparated from the valve when the valve moves to its extreme positions.

14. The combination with a cylinder member having a piston chamber and apiston operating in the piston chamber, of means for supplying actuatingfluid to the piston chamber on opposite sides of the piston, adistributing valve controlling said supply and movable between oppositeextreme positions and an intermediate position in which latter positionit cuts off fluid simultaneously to both sides of the piston, oppositereciprocatory plungers mounted independently of the valve and bearingagainst the opposite ends thereof, means for constantly urging theplungers inwardly and causing both to bear against the valve when it isin its intermediate position, heads on the outer ends of the plungersand stops against which the heads respectively abut for limiting theinward movements of said plungers and causing each to be alternatelyseparated from the valve when the valve moves to its extreme positions.

15. The combination with a cylinder mem her and a piston operatingtherein, of a distributing valve for controlling the motive fluid to thecylinder member to operate the piston, a valve chamber containing thevalve, means for constantly supplying motive fluid simultaneously to thevalve chamber and against opposing portions of the valve, exhaustpassages for such fluid from the valve chamber to the cylinder member,said piston having means for alternately closing one and opening theother of the exhaust passages at' each end of its stroke and openingboth passages simultaneously at the intermediate portions of its stroke,and oppositely acting yielding plungers that operate on the valve tohold it in an intermediate position and with fluid cut off thereby fromthe ends of the cylinder member when the exhaustpassages aresimultaneously open.

16. The combination with a cylinder member and a piston operatingtherein, of a distributing valve for controlling the motive fluid to thecylinder member to operate the piston, a valve chamber containing thevalve, means for supplying motive fluid simultaneously to both ends ofthe valve chamber and against opposing faces of the valve, exhaustpassages from the ends of the valve chamber opening into the centralportion of the cylinder member at spaced points and alternatelyuncovered by the ends of the piston during its reciprocation, saidcylinder member having exhaust permitting means that is open to thealternately uncovered passages and said piston having a groove thatsimultaneously uncovers both of said. passages and opens them to theexhaust-permitting means, and oppo sitely acting yielding plungers thatoperate on the valve to hold it in an intermediate position and withfluid cut off thereby from the ends of the cylinder members when theexhaust passages are simultaneously open.

In testimony whereof, I aflix my signature.

' AUGUST H. KATTERJOHN.

